[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5947]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1240
               OUTRAGE OVER AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL FURLOUGH

  (Mr. GIBBS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. GIBBS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, as I am outraged by the actions 
that this White House is putting on the American public, unnecessary 
hardship in their furloughing of air traffic controllers. This is not 
necessary.
  Out of a $10 billion operating budget, they have almost $3 billion of 
nonpersonnel operation costs that they can make cuts there first. It 
would include $500 million for consultants, $325 million for supplies 
and travel, and $143 million to address their 46 fleet of aircraft. 
Aircraft travel in this time period is down 27 percent. This is 
unnecessary.
  Today we hear reports of air traffic controllers reporting that 
they've been instructed by management to make it as tough as possible 
on the traveling public. This is nothing but political rhetoric to gain 
and put pressure on the Congress to pass more tax increases. I think 
it's a despicable attitude for this White House, and we should address 
it with the American public. It's despicable and it's outrageous.

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